RELATED: This Beloved Milwaukee County Parks Golf Course Won’t Reopen

Disc golf course. Mountain biking trail or pump track. A prairie with native plants. Community Garden. Dog Park. Multi-use trail. Butterfly garden. Vendor area.

All are proposals that have been raised as possible uses for the former Doyne Park Golf Course, which permanently closed this year after 40 years in operation on Milwaukee’s West Side.

The course’s closure left some local golfers disappointed, even angered, over the decision. 

However, the Milwaukee County Parks Department claimed it no longer made financial sense to keep the nine-hole pitch-and-putt course open amid budget shortfalls and a lack of staff. The county cited declining rounds played, increased maintenance costs and changes in preferences for entry-level players for prompting the decision to close the Doyne course which featured nine holes that all were less than 110 yards from tee to green.

The county has since shifted its focus to gathering public input and developing a plan for new uses for the property located along West Wells Street.

A standing-room only crowd gathered last week in a meeting room at the Wisconsin Humane Society to discuss Doyne Park’s future.

The closing of the golf course leaves Doyne Park with basketball courts, a soccer field, a section of the Oak Leaf Trail and an outdated playground that is expected to be replaced in the next few years.

A landfill on which the park is situated limits the future uses of the former golf course. The Parks Department installed a landfill gas control system in 1998 in response to concerns that landfill gas might migrate into neighboring residences. As such, amenities can’t include anything that penetrates the soil, such as a splash pad, pickle ball courts or picnic pavilion.

At last week’s meeting, residents had the opportunity to vote on potential future uses for the former golf course. Large sheets of paper with several proposals were pinned up around the meeting room and residents placed colored stickers on the sheets to indicate their most- and least-favorite ideas.

Residents favored options like a native prairie…